Theoretical approaches to marine biogeography

There are 2 approaches in biogeography: landscape-geographic and flora-faunistic.The former is based on analysis of the quantitative distribution of organisms, which create a biological background to different areas.The flora-faunistic approach is based on comparison of the qualitative composition of all taxa in different parts of the areas.Biogeography is based on the principles of provinciality, zonality and the history of development and of genetic relations of taxa.Here the hierarchy of structural levels of life organization and biogeographical division of the World Ocean is considered.Dependence of organisms' distribution on the conditions, time and place of their origin are analysed.Differences in the character of species and higher taxa distribution are explained by different mechanisms of speciation and formation of higher taxa.Schemes of landscape and flora-faunistic biogeographical division of the World Ocean with detailed analysis of temperate and cold waters in the northern hemisphere are given.